“The only-begotten Son of God came to this world to redeem the fallen race. He has given us evidence of His great power. He will enable those who receive Him to build up characters free from all the tendencies that Satan reveals. We can resist the enemy and all his forces. The battle will be won, the victory gained, by him who chooses Christ as his leader, determined to do right because it is right. – {HP 17.2} Our divine Lord is equal to any emergency. With Him nothing is impossible. He has shown His great love for us by living a life of self-denial and sacrifice and by dying a death of agony. Come to Christ just as you are…. Cast yourself wholly on His mercy. There is no difficulty within or without that cannot be surmounted in His strength.” – {HP 17.3}In Heavenly Places: Ellen G....

“If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.  But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. (KJV) ( Daniel 3:17-18 )   A lot of times we have our faith backwards. If God does XYZ, then I will believe. But these men had a powerful faith. Even if God didn’t save them from death, they still stood their ground. Why must we have conditions met before we will stick our neck out for God? It comes down to trust. Will you still trust in God even if it appears God didn’t come through?...

The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. (KJV) ( Psalm 103:8 ) The key to battling anger is fighting it away with unfailing love for others.  If you really love someone you will put yourself in the other persons shoes.  They too are a son or daughter of Christ and should be treated as such.  How long can you endure before you get angry? Challenge yourself to increase your tolerance for your anger....

A Love Born of Mercy “I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. Hebrews 8:12. God’s love for the fallen race is a peculiar manifestation of love—a love born of mercy; for human beings are all undeserving. Mercy implies the imperfection of the object toward which it is shown. It was because of sin that mercy was brought into active exercise. Sin is not the object of God’s love, but of His hatred. But He loves and pities the sinner. The erring sons and daughters of Adam are the children of His redemption. Through the gift of His Son He has revealed toward them His infinite love and mercy. God proposes cooperation with His frail, erring creatures, whom He has placed on vantage ground. On the one side there are infinite wisdom, goodness, compassion, power; on the other, weakness, sinfulness, absolute helplessness, poverty, dependence…. Man is given the privilege of working with God in the saving of his own soul. He is to receive Christ as his personal Saviour and believe in Him. Receiving and believing is his part of the contract…. The plan of redemption was arranged in the counsels between the Father and the Son. Then Christ pledged Himself to render an account for man if he proved disloyal. He pledged Himself to make an atonement which would unite every believing soul to God. He who lays his sins upon the substitute and surety … can unite with the apostle in saying: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places.” “That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 1:3; Ephesians 2:7). In His infinite love Christ devised the plan of salvation. This plan He stands ready to fulfill in behalf of all who will cooperate with Him. In their behalf He says to the Father, Do not impute their sins to them, but lay them on Me. Be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities remember no more. They have accepted My merits and made peace with Me…. My righteousness is theirs, and for My sake bless them with all spiritual blessings   from In Heavenly Places, by Ellen G. White. To download free books by Ellen G. White,...

“And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.”. (KJV) ( Luke 2:7 ) Jesus’s entrance to this world was quite humble. And yet it’s a paradox for the King of the earth to arrive in modest conditions. He came, in his righteousness, to serve us, those who are unrighteous. As an adult Jesus taught us to love our enemies which sounds backwards. These paradoxes are different from how you would expect a real king to arrive....

Isaiah 9:6-7 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with ju…stice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.The word “zeal” is defined as: fervor for a person, cause, or object. Our God is zealous for us. We are the object of His fervor…the recipients of His amazing love. To those who believe in Christ, eternal life and everlasting peace is the promise. Praise God that through Christ He has secured our future in His loving arms for eternity, and ushered in a kingdom that can never be overthrown or destroyed. Verse/Commentary courtesy of ‘Verse-A-Day’...

Genesis 3:1-3 “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?  And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” “Satan begins his trickery with a half-truth eating from the trees in the garden. Right out of the gate, he tries to confuse what God really said to Eve and get her to believe that she heard God wrong. Eve remembers what God actually said, and repeats that to Satan, standing her ground for now. As you may well know, Satan comes next with more lies about what God has said, and lies about what will, or will not happen if Adam and Eve eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Deception is the game of our enemy, and deceiving you is the only weapon he has against you. You are free from sin and from believing these lies in Christ. Do not grant Satan power that he does not really have in your life.” Verse/Commentary courtesy of ‘Verse-A-Day’...